Air humidification device

ABSTRACT

An air humidification device (1) includes a housing (2) having a front side and a rear side, on which housing an air inlet opening (3) and an air outlet opening as well as a water connection (5) for supplying water are provided. A porous ceramic plate is disposed in the housing in the air guide path thereof, which is formed between the air inlet opening and the air outlet opening, in such a way that the air passing through the air humidification device flows through the ceramic plate. The ceramic plate is surrounded by a frame at least on the front side, which frame is detachably and reattachably fixed in the housing. The housing has a detachable and reattachable housing wall part (4), upon removal of which the frame with the ceramic plate is accessible and can be removed from or inserted into the housing, respectively. In this way, an easy cleaning of the ceramic plate is possible.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a National Stage application of International Patent Application No. PCT/EP2019/078895, filed on Oct. 23, 2019, which claims priority to Swiss Patent Application No. 01365/18 filed on Nov. 6, 2018, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention relates to an air humidification device comprising a housing having a front side and a rear side and having an air inlet opening and an air outlet opening as well as having a water connection for supplying water, and having a porous ceramic plate which is disposed in the air guide path of the housing formed by the housing between the air inlet opening and the air outlet opening in such a way that air passing through the air humidification device flows through the ceramic plate. Further, the invention relates to the use of the air humidification device for humidifying air in an apartment or a single-family house.

BACKGROUND

Air humidification devices are known in various designs. In particular, air humidification devices are known on the market, which can be attached to air ducts or air boxes of a building ventilation system of a single-family house, such that humidified air can be supplied to all rooms connected to the ventilation system. Such air humidification devices use metal meshes as elements in which the air comes into contact with the water. However, such metal meshes may prove to be unstable and unsuitable from a hygienic point of view. From CH 687 417 it is known to use porous ceramic bodies as evaporation elements in an air humidification device which is arranged directly in an air duct. Porous ceramic bodies in air humidifiers are further known from CH 696 694 as well as from EP 1 522 797, from EP 1 522 798 and from EP 1 541 932. Ceramic bodies are used in large humidifiers and, as mentioned in CH 687 417, are cleaned by a pyrolitic process or by acidification to maintain hygienic requirements. However, this is too complex in practice for small air humidification systems for apartments or single-family houses.

SUMMARY

The invention is based on the problem to provide an improved air humidification device, which is particularly suitable for use in ventilation systems of single-family houses or apartments.

This problem is solved in that the ceramic plate is at least partially surrounded on the front side by a frame, which frame is detachably fixed in the housing, and in that the housing has a detachable and reattachable housing wall part, in particular arranged on the front side of the housing, during the removal of which the frame with the ceramic plate is accessible and can be removed from or inserted into the housing, respectively.

This design of the air humidification device makes it possible to easily remove the ceramic plate from the housing. The frame, which is usually formed of plastic, thereby enables on the one hand the handling of the ceramic plate, which has sharp edges, without any risk of injury to the user. Furthermore, the frame enables easy handling due to its detachable fastening in the housing and results in a well-defined insertion of the unit of the ceramic plate and the frame in the housing. Particularly preferably, the detachable housing wall part is arranged at the front side of the housing which results in a further facilitation of the handling of the ceramic plate.

Preferably, the frame and the housing have cooperating snap-in fastening means, which result in an easy removal and insertion of the ceramic plate. Preferably, the air humidification device is equipped only with a single ceramic plate, which also facilitates the handling and the preferred method of cleaning. It is actually preferred that the frame and the ceramic plate are designed to be dishwasher safe, which allows an easy cleaning in a household dishwasher. In this way, a hygienic operation of the air humidification device by the user can be ensured in a simple manner. Accordingly, the ceramic plate with the frame at least partially surrounding it is sized in such a way that it can be placed in a conventional household dishwasher for cleaning. Preferably, the ceramic plate is designed as a single plate with flat plate sides, which is also advantageous for cleaning.

Preferably, the water supply of the air humidification device in its housing is arranged in such a way that the water for air humidification is supplied from the water connection of the housing to the ceramic plate or is delivered to it, respectively, in particular is delivered directly to a front face of the ceramic plate. The direct delivery of water to the ceramic plate enables an efficient humidification, such that sufficient humidification for a single-family house or apartment can be achieved with a single ceramic plate. In particular, it is foreseen that through the water guidance of the air humidification device in the housing, the water can be discharged onto the upper side of the frame and the frame has water guide elements on the upper side for the distribution of the water.

Further, for an easy mounting of the air humidification device on the outside of an air duct or an air box of a building ventilation system, it is preferred that the air inlet opening has a connection for an air hose on opposite sides of the housing and that the respective unused connection can be closed. It is further preferably foreseen that the air outlet opening is arranged at the rear of the housing. This facilitates a mounting on the outside of an air duct or an air box of the building ventilation system. It is further preferred that the size of the air outlet opening on the rear side substantially corresponds to the width times length or area, respectively, of the ceramic plate not covered by the frame. Thus, a large volume of air can be delivered to the air duct through the preferably single ceramic plate. A collar around the air outlet opening allows for the substantially airtight connection to a corresponding opening in an air duct on which the air humidification device is mounted. Preferably, the rear side of the housing is further configured in such a way that the housing can be attached with its rear side to an outer surface of an air duct or an air box of a building ventilation system. In this way, the air outlet opening can be aligned with an opening in the air duct or in the air box, and the humidified air exiting from the air humidification device directly enters the air duct or the air box.

The invention further relates to the use of an air humidification device according to the invention for humidifying air via the building ventilation system of an apartment or a single-family house according to claim 11. Thereby, the mentioned advantages are achieved.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further embodiments, advantages and applications of the invention are apparent from the dependent claims and from the description which now follows with reference to the figures. Thereby show:

FIG. 1 a view of an embodiment of the air humidification device with a frontal view of its housing;

FIG. 2 a view of the rear side of the housing of the air humidification device of FIG. 1 with the ceramic plate inserted in the housing;

FIG. 3 the view of FIG. 2 with the ceramic plate removed;

FIG. 4 a view from the front of the housing, wherein the detachable housing wall part from the housing is detached;

FIG. 5 a view from the front in which the ceramic plate with the frame is ready for removal from the housing;

FIG. 6 a frontal view of the lower part of the housing in the open state with the water inlet and a part of the water conduit in the housing.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 shows a frontal view of an air humidification device 1. This comprises a housing 2. An air inlet opening 3 is provided laterally on the left side of the housing and an air hose, not shown, for supplying air to the air humidification device 1 can be attached to the air inlet opening 3 by means of a connecting piece 33, which can belong to the device 1 or to the air hose of a building ventilation system. The air humidification device 1 is externally attached to an only indicated air duct or air box 20 of a building ventilation system, in particular a ventilation system of a single-family house. Furthermore, the device 1 comprises a water connection 5 to which a pipe supplying water to the air humidification device can be connected. There is generally provided a water drain 6 for residual water, which residual water has not been entrained during the humidification process by the air flowing through the air humidification device 1 and has dripped downwardly from the humidification element, which is a ceramic plate. The designations “down”, “up”, “right” and “left”, as well as “front” and “rear” refer to the normal position of the air humidification device 1 shown in FIG. 1 with the frontal view of the front thereof. The housing 1 further comprises a housing wall part 4 detachable from and reattachable to the housing 1, upon removal of which a humidifying element of the air humidification device which is formed by a porous ceramic plate is accessible and removable from or insertable into the housing, respectively, which will be explained in further detail. The housing can be made mainly of plastic and be essentially cuboid or cube-shaped, optionally with rounded edges, or be essentially cylindrically shaped.

The FIGS. 2 and 3 show a view of the rear side 8 of the housing 2.

This comprises the air outlet opening 10. This may be surrounded by a collar 11, which projects into the air duct when the air humidification device 1 is mounted on the air duct via an opening therein. A seal 13 may be provided for an air-tight connection of the air humidification device 1 on the air duct. In FIG. 2, the ceramic plate 12 of the air humidification device 1 is mounted in the housing so that the air which flows into the housing at the connecting piece 33 flows out of the housing through the porous ceramic plate 12 and into the air duct. A corresponding air guide path is provided in the housing 2 by means of internal housing parts, which need not be further explained to the person skilled in the art here and which can be provided in various ways. This air guide path is sealed airtight, such that substantially all air which enters the housing via the connecting piece 33 and the air inlet opening 3 exits the housing through the air outlet opening 10. Thereby, the air picks up the desired moisture as it flows through the porous ceramic plate 12, which is sprinkled with water. In FIG. 3, the ceramic plate with its frame has been removed from the housing so that the view through the air outlet opening 10 into the housing is unobstructed.

FIG. 4 again shows the view from the front. It can be seen that the air inlet opening 3 can also be provided laterally on the right side of the housing. If air inlet openings are provided both on the right and on the left side of the housing, the air inlet opening that is not required is closed airtight by a plug. Depending on the mounting situation of the air humidification device 1 on the air duct or air box of the respective building ventilation system, the air inlet opening on the left side can be used as shown in FIG. 1 or the air inlet opening 3 on the right side can be used as shown in FIG. 4 for connecting the air hose by means of a connecting piece 33, while the other side of the air inlet opening is closed.

FIG. 4 further shows that the detachable and reattachable housing wall part 4 has been detached and removed from the housing. It will be reattached to it later. It is evident that behind the housing wall part 4 the ceramic plate 12 becomes accessible, which is visible here from its other side than in FIG. 2. The ceramic plate 12 is arranged in a frame 14, which surrounds the ceramic plate on the front side and has at least single retaining brackets, which hold the ceramic plate 12 in the frame. The frame may be completely closed around the front face or only partially closed. Instead of individual retaining brackets, the frame can also have a circumferential edge at the front and rear side, which retains the ceramic plate in the frame. In the figures, the frame 14 is shown with only one line. The specific design of a frame made of a plastic material according to the above details is readily apparent to the person skilled in the art and the frame therefore does not need to be shown in more detail here.

The frame 14 is held in the housing in a detachable and reattachable manner, so that by detaching the frame from the housing, the frame with the ceramic plate can be removed from the housing and subsequently reinserted and reattached in the housing. FIG. 5 shows the completely removed wall part 4 of the housing and shall further show that the frame has already been detached from the housing. Possibly, the frame 14 with the ceramic plate is tilted slightly forward during this process in order to more easily remove the frame with the ceramic plate from the housing in an upward direction. For releasing and fastening the frame in the housing, a releasable snap-in connection with elements on the housing and on the frame can be foreseen, which is indicated by the only indicated elastic tabs 15 in FIG. 5, which tabs can be provided on the housing and can releasably engage in corresponding counterparts on the frame. On its bottom side, the frame may rest and be suspended in the housing, for example in an upwardly open U-shaped rail in the housing. Such releasable and reestablishable connections are known to the person skilled in the art and need not be explained further here. From the in particular tilted forward position, the frame can be removed with the ceramic plate in an upward direction. The insertion is carried out in the reverse order. After insertion of the frame with the ceramic plate, the wall part 4 of the housing is fixed to it again. The frame with the ceramic element is arranged in an airtight manner in the housing by means of one or more seals, such that the air must flow through the ceramic element.

Because the air humidification device with the ceramic plate is arranged on the outside of an air duct or an air box, respectively, of a building ventilation system, the ceramic plate is easily accessible for cleaning. The removal of the porous ceramic plate from the housing of the air humidification device 1 can be performed easily and safely thanks to the frame, which is generally made of a plastic material and which protects the operator's hands from the sharp-edged parts of the ceramic plate. The removal of the ceramic plate allows for its cleaning in a simple way. Preferably, for ease of removal and cleaning, only a single ceramic plate is foreseen in the air humidification device 1 and its dimensions with the frame are preferably chosen such that the frame with the ceramic plate can be placed in a household dishwasher, such that a cleaning of the ceramic plate and the frame can be performed using a dishwashing detergent and a cleaning program of the dishwasher. Accordingly, the frame must be formed of a dishwasher-safe plastic, and in the case of the ceramic plate, its dishwasher-safe nature is generally given anyway. This simple cleaning possibility, which results from the simple and hazard-free removability and reinsertability, permits a hygienic operation of the air humidification device 1 with simple compliance with the desired cleaning intervals for the ceramic plate or for the humidifying means, respectively, of the air humidification device 1.

The FIG. 6 shows the preferred supply of water for the air humidification by means of the air humidification device 1. FIG. 6 shows a view of the lower part of the air humidification device 1 with the housing opened. It can be seen that a conduit 16 leads upwards in the housing from the water connection 5, which conducts the water introduced into the air humidification device at the water connection 5 upwards to the upper side of the housing. The water supply can be determined by a controllable electrical valve 17. This valve 17 can be controlled by the electronic control 18 of the air humidification device 1. It is known to the person skilled in the art how to design the control system in order to control the valve. By means of one or more sensors in the air path, which are not shown, the control system can determine the actual humidity of the air and compare it with the desired and adjustable target humidity of the air. This is also known to the person skilled in the art and will not be explained further here.

At the upper end of the conduit 16, the water is discharged from the conduit onto the ceramic plate. This is preferably achieved in such a way that the water is discharged onto the upper side of the frame, and the frame is designed on its upper side with only indicated water guide elements 19, in particular channel-like water guide elements, to substantially uniformly distribute the water along and onto the upper front side of the ceramic plate, for which purpose the water guide elements have corresponding openings in the bottom thereof. Instead of this preferred embodiment, the conduit could also have a plurality of outlet points for discharging the water onto the ceramic plate.

While preferred embodiments of the invention are described in the present application, it should be clearly noted that the invention is not limited thereto and may as well be carried out in other ways within the scope of the following claims. 

What is claimed is: 1-11. (canceled)
 12. An air humidification device comprising a housing with a front side and a rear side, on which housing an air inlet opening and an air outlet opening as well as a water connection for the supply of water are foreseen, and with a porous ceramic plate, which is arranged in the housing in its air guide path, which is formed between the air inlet opening and the air outlet opening, in such a manner that the air passing through the air humidification device flows through the ceramic plate, wherein the ceramic plate is surrounded at least at the front side by a frame, which frame is detachably and reattachably fixed in the housing, wherein the housing comprises a detachable and reattachable housing wall part, upon removal of which the frame with the ceramic plate is accessible and is removeable from or insertable into the housing, respectively, and wherein a water guide is foreseen in the housing from the water connection in such a way that the water for air humidification is discharged onto the upper front side of the ceramic plate.
 13. The air humidification device according to claim 12 wherein the ceramic plate is arranged vertically in the housing.
 14. The air humidification device according to claim 12 wherein the water guide is designed to discharge the water first onto the upper side of the frame and the frame has water guide elements on the upper side for distributing the water onto the front side of the ceramic plate.
 15. The air humidification device according to claim 12 wherein the frame is designed on its upper side with channel-like water guide elements for substantially uniform distribution of the water along and onto the upper front side of the ceramic plate, for which purpose the water guide elements have corresponding openings in the bottom thereof.
 16. The air humidification device according to claim 12 wherein a conduit leads upwards in the housing from the water connection, which conduit has a plurality of outlet points at the upper end for discharging the water onto the ceramic plate.
 17. The air humidification device according to claim 12 wherein a single ceramic plate is foreseen, and in particular wherein the ceramic plate has flat plate sides.
 18. The air humidification device according to claim 12 wherein the frame and the housing comprise cooperating snap-in fastening means.
 19. The air humidification device according to claim 12 wherein the frame and the ceramic plate are designed to be dishwasher-safe.
 20. The air humidification device according to claim 12 wherein the air inlet opening is designed in such a way that a connection for an air hose is foreseen on each of opposite sides of the housing, wherein the respective unused connection of the two connections is closeable by a closure.
 21. The air humidification device according to claim 12 wherein the air outlet opening is arranged at the rear of the housing.
 22. The air humidification device according to claim 21 wherein the size of the air outlet opening at the rear side substantially corresponds to the area of the ceramic plate not covered by the frame, and wherein the air outlet opening comprises a collar surrounding the air outlet opening and projecting away from the rear side.
 23. The air humidification device according to claim 12 wherein the rear side of the housing is designed in such a way that the housing is fixable with its rear side in a substantially flat manner to an outer surface of an air duct or an air box of a building ventilation system, such that the air outlet opening can be aligned with an opening in the air duct or in the air box.
 24. The use of an air humidification device according to claim 12 for humidifying air via the building ventilation system of an apartment or a single-family house, wherein the air humidification device is mounted on the outside of an air duct or an air box of the building ventilation system and discharges the humidified air via the air outlet opening of the air humidification device into the interior of the air duct or the air box. 